Being a meteorologist and writer, I sometimes confuse myself, so let’s be clear: This is a language-related weather post, not a weather-related language post!

Do They Want Hurricanes to Strengthen?

Am I the only one who is disturbed by how often meteorologists (degree in meteorology) and weather presenters (“I’m not a meteorologist, but I play on tv”) make it sound as if they want tropical storms and hurricanes to strengthen?

I watched a Weather Channel update a couple of days ago on Tropical Storm Isaac, which could become Hurricane Isaac, and I heard several references that made it sound as if it would be a good thing for the storm to strengthen.

The upper-levels were not conducive to the storm developing.

Dry air being pulled into the storm was going to slow development.

Interaction with Cuba would slow its development to hurricane strength.

The broad circulation was preventing a rapid intensification.

The westward track was making it less likely to move up the East Coast.

Based on those statements, you might conclude that it would be good for the storm to strengthen and slam into the East Coast. The statements were all phrased in the negative (negative for the storm), but they all sounded like positive points to me, except for the regions that were going to be affected by the more westward movement.

Storm’s Perspective

Most people don’t want to see death and destruction from storms, of course, but it is worth nothing that there are a few ego-driven meteorologists who would much rather be correct about a forecast even if it means more destruction than be wrong about a forecast and have it be less destructive. That’s too bad, but it’s also not the point here.

The point is that since meteorologists dictate the tone of the discussion, they do it from the perspective that they care about (the perspective of the storm) instead of the perspective that is most important to the audience (the potential effects of the storm). For the record, I’m sure that I’ve been guilty of it myself.

We have often noted that often repeated language and grammar errors seem to become “correct” usage. Wouldn’t it be weird if math used that philosophy? When enough people said 2+2=5, it would! It would still equal 4, of course, but it would also equal 5.

In the vein, I thought that I’d go off topic today and note a particularly pervasive myth that is constantly stated at this time of year:

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the year.

Not only is it typically NOT the busiest travel day of the year, it’s often not even close–at least as far as air travel is concerned. As recently as 2008, there were 220 busier travel days that year.

Granted, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is still busiest travel day of the year for people who are willing to go a surprisingly long distance to eat turkey, which may very well be overcooked.

It’s surprising that the myth has survived as long as it has. First of all, there are records for such things. Second, while many people travel for the holiday, they’re not competing with business travelers for the most part–a large portion of normal travelers are staying at home.

By the way, if you are traveling, then you might want to check out my AOL News article on possible weather-related travel delays.

In case you hadn’t noticed, we changed the look of the blog recently. The most recent template didn’t highlight the pages on the site as well as this one does, so let me introduce (or re-introduce) some of the pages here.

Sherry’s Grammar List: This is a list of common grammar errors that Sherry Coven has written for the blog. This is the most popular page on the site.

Paul List: This is a list of Paul’s entries (not completely updated yet), which includes more language than traditional grammar posts.

Awesome is often used to mean something incredibly good, but technically, it means something that inspires awe of any type. When I saw that the video of Hurricane Katrina, released by NASA five years after the devastating storm, the only word that came to mind is awesome.

A temperature is a number, which means that it can be higher or lower, not warmer or colder. One hundred is not warmer than 20, and 20 is not colder than 100.

As far as the air is concerned, it is indeed warmer at 100 degrees than it is at 20 and colder at 20 degrees than it is at 100; however, the numbers themselves are either higher or lower. Therefore, technically, we should say that the temperatures are higher or lower, not warmer or colder.

We can’t live on language and grammar alone, so please let me share my exciting news with you. My weather book, Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities is available in bookstores (and online) now. I think that anyone who’s interested in the weather will enjoy it. For more weather information, stop by Cloudy and Cool.

While not a science-heavy book, easy-to-understand weather explanation is mixed with how the weather affects our lives, quite possibly in ways we’ve never thought of before, such as sporting events, health and home, and historic events. The book also separates fact from fiction as it relates to common weather beliefs and ancient wives’ tales. (A chapter-by-chapter outline is below)

Weather Whys can also be purchased in book stores (national chains and many independent bookstores), as well as through online book sellers: